Bronze for Johnson in Slovenia
ELENA JOHNSON has won bronze in the red of England at the European Senior Championships, just after donning Guernsey’s green at the Commonwealth Games.
It was in fact the morning after her round of 16 match in Birmingham that she caught the bus to Heathrow before flying out to Ljubljana, Slovenia, for the Europeans.
There, she competed in the women’s doubles with Scotland’s Frances McLure, as well as contesting the mixed with England’s Mark Law.
Both were in the over-35s section of a tournament that goes right through to 75 years and above.
Day one saw McLure and Johnson facing Germany’s Ayler Dusel and Katherina Meyer.
Having arrived the night before, the Guernseywoman had no time to familiarise herself with the hall, leading to a few struggles with timing at the start of the match.
They had to save a match point before winning the third game 21-11 to progress.
After a rest day, there was a mixed match against Portugal, who had knocked out a French pair in the first round.
Johnson and Law were in control the whole match and safely progressed with a 21-8, 21-3 win against Luis Silva and Lucia Jeronimo.
In the women’s, they had anticipated a tricky match against the No. 2 seeds from France.
Maily Turlan – a world over-35 mixed doubles finalist last year – and partner Cleide Houbiguian were favourites for the match, but the England/Scotland duo felt in control throughout and came through with a 21-13, 21-18 win.
After another restful 24 hours, they faced mixed fortunes on day five.
Law and Johnson were put under pressure straight away from Germans Gregory Schneider and Nicole Schnurrer, who had beaten Slovenians and Austrians on their way to the round of 16.
Despite a strong run of points in the second end, the England pairing left it too late and were knocked out 21-13, 21-16 by the eventual bronze medallists.
In the women’s doubles, they faced French national over-35 runners-up Emilie Landon and Youna Le Lan, who had defeated Lithuanian and Polish pairs on their way to the quarter-finals.
An in-control 21-14, 21-12 win ensured they would end up with a medal. But what colour?
Ultimately they secured bronze, being unable to continue their run in a tough semi.
They faced Germans Stefanie Bannenberg and Britta Hogrefe, who had defeated Czech, French and Swiss pairs on their way to the semis.
Johnson and McLure stuck with them throughout the first game until a run of points at the end gave them the first set 21-17.
Unfortunately, their rivals kept the momentum in the second and progressed to the final with a 21-13 win.
England ultimately dominated the medal tables with 15.5 golds in a total of 41 – Johnson’s counting as half due to having a Scottish partner – with Germany next on just 4.5 golds. She was rather pleased to play a part in that.
‘Having competed against Frances in our junior years and in British University Games [English Universities versus Scottish Universities], this was our first time playing together,’ Johnson said.
‘So to come away from a major championships like this with a medal is more than we could have hoped for.’
